This is how ridiculous the WBC title structure is: Its president won’t say who the lightweight champion is.
The sanctioning body has three 135-pound titleholders – Teofimo Lopez (“franchise”), Devin Haney (standard) and Ryan Garcia (“interim”), which is confusing enough. It gets more frustrating, though.
Mauricio Sulaiman has confirmed that Lopez is the undisputed 135-pound titleholder after he unified all four major titles with his victory over then-franchise beltholder Vasiliy Lomachenko on Oct. 17.
However, the WBC lists Devin Haney as it’s lightweight champion, which is also what Haney claims.
Sulaiman has confirmed that Lopez is undisputed champion but declined to address the question of who is the real WBC titleholder when he appeared on DAZN’s The Ak & Barak Show.
“Teofimo Lopez is the undisputed lightweight champion,” Sulaiman said. “And whoever beats Teofimo, if there is someone who beats him, he must be called undisputed.
“I have spoken with Devin and his father. … The franchise designation was created recently by the WBC. The idea and purpose is to provide the best fights for the fans. And I’m very happy that this year, in the lightweight division, that was achieved.
“Through the franchise naming, we got to see the fight between Teofimo and Lomachenko, and we saw Devin Haney recovering from his injury to fight [Yuriorkis] Gamboa. We also saw Ryan Garcia against Luke Campbell.
“I understand the confusion with the belts and perhaps the frustration. But we take the path of watching the best fights. I respect Haney, I’m very proud of him, I’m very close to him, and it’s just a matter of all of them getting in the ring and forgetting all of that discussion on social media.
“Get in the ring and show who is the best. That’s what everyone wants to see.”
Does that clear things up? Didn’t think so.
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